Animal vs Non Animal Sources of Calcium

Calcium is an important mineral used to maintain the health of our bones and teeth and ensure proper functioning of the cardiovascular and neuromuscular systems. Consuming adequate amounts of calcium is particularly important for young children, adolescents (whose bones are still developing) and post menopausal women (whose bones start to deplete).

Dairy products are an excellent source of calcium that are absorbed very well by our body. However, I often hear people say ‘you don’t need dairy because you can easily get calcium from other sources like fruits and vegetables’. This is true, calcium can also be found in non animal sources but it is not absorbed as well and it is usually in much lower quantities. So my concern would be whether individuals know and plan what they eat to ensure they are still meeting their requirements. The tables below compare vegan VS animal sources of calcium and can be a useful guide to the calcium content of different foods.

Recommended Daily Intake (RDI)

To help make sense of the figures below, let’s first go over what your daily requirements for calcium are. These values are the Nutrient Reference Values set by the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Recommended adult calcium intake

Recommended calcium intake for children and adolescents

Non animal sources of calcium

The calcium sources below are all suitable for vegetarians/ vegans. It is important to keep in mind that the values are based on 100g of that item which in most cases you may not ever eat e.g. 100g of oregano. As previously mentioned, the calcium in these foods will not be absorbed as well as that from animal sources.

Animal sources of calcium

Contact us for results focused nutritional advice

This article was written by our dietitian Belinda Elwin who is a Dietitians Association of Australia member and Accredited Practicing Dietitian and Nutritionist. If you have questions about natural dietary sources of calcium, make an appointment. We‘ll provide you with a simple and effective routine targeted to your concerns. Contact us today!

Trending

About Belinda Elwin

Belinda is a fully Accredited Practicing Dietitian and Nutritionist who has experience working with both children and adults. She is constantly ensuring her knowledge is up to date by attending conferences, workshops and keeping on top of newly emerging evidence.

Belinda has worked within the community by conducting supermarket tours and regularly delivering presentations to schools and support groups. Additionally, she leads a healthy lifestyle program for children outside of the healthy weight range. During the week, she also works with inpatients in the public hospital system.

Belinda combines her experience and skill set to provide practical, client specific advice through dietary counselling. In particular, Belinda has a broad range of experience with weight management, diabetes, oncology, high cholesterol, malnutrition, childhood nutrition and gastrointestinal disorders. She is passionate about her career and helping others to improve their quality of life.

Contact Form

About Us

We are Dietitians and Nutritionists, Speech Pathologists and Skincare Specialists. We see adults and children from our office in Randwick. Passionate about health and wellbeing, we write about issues relevant to our clinical practice.